


Subject X: Lost in Eternity

by MalevolentKing



Series: Subject X [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Mass Effect - All Media Types
Genre: Amnesiac Harry Potter, Biotics (Mass Effect), F/M, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Magic Loss, Paragon Shepard (Mass Effect)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:55:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24194698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MalevolentKing/pseuds/MalevolentKing
Summary: A fifteen year old woke up in a strange place, with no memory of how he got there. No memories of how he got to this place, nothing except a strange sense that something was off. He wasn't where he was supposed to be.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Jack | Subject Zero, Harry Potter/Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, Male Shepard/Ashley Williams
Series: Subject X [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1746172
Kudos: 23





	1. The Prologue

Groaning and sitting up, he scratched his head. The ground was moist and covered with thick red leaves that gave off a minty scent. He slowly stood up, his joints popping with every movement he made. His black hair was shaggy and his emerald green eyes shined from behind a pair of cracked glasses, which he discarded. He tried to remember how he got here, but all that came to him were flashes of light and screaming, anguish. He flinched away, clutching his head in pain.

Footsteps sounded off in the distance and he started panicking. Looking around, he saw he was in a heavily forested area with trees towering far above him, the moonlight shining down on the small clearing he was standing in. The footsteps were approaching faster and faster, eventually he saw flashlights pointing over in his direction. His ears began ringing, his stomach felt like it was made of lead. The sounds of voices yelling were drowned out by the ringing. A group of seven armored humanoid figures came bursting out of the crimson foliage, each of them aiming their guns at him and yelling something which he barely processed. He passed out, the last thing he saw was the insignia on their armor. Two long lines with a long hexagon with a slit. His brain filed that away, as the darkness embraced him. 

* * *

The first thing he noticed as he became aware of his surroundings were that he was restrained to a table. Keeping his breathing as steady as possible he tugged slightly, metal cuffs on both his arms and legs. Cracking one eye open ever so slightly he was rewarded with a blinding bright white, but he slowly opened both of his eyes, only to find himself in a white room, with monitors decorating the desks, and a small camera up in the corner. 

He was the only one in this room. He heard a whirring, when a holographic image of a man stood before him, standing at about 5'11" with greying hair and bright blue irises that shined out of what appeared to be shadows on his face. They were obviously prosthetic.

He was holding a cigarette in between his lips as he studied the boy on the table. For all intents and purposes, he didn't look like much, he wasn't very imposing, he was tall and lanky. Deathly thin, as a matter of fact. Looking like he hadn't been fed many meals, almost malnourished. He was also an irregularity, and the Illusive Man did not like irregularities. He had fallen out of the sky and crashed into a clearing just outside of his secret testing facility on Archos 5. His facial features, general build, and DNA matched one Harry Potter, a 15 year old kid who went missing back in 1996. There was no evidence that came up that led to his find, so it became a cold case.

Reading the records of this long lost child was certainly interesting, his family claimed that he went to a school for the criminally insane, but not a single education record showed past the age of 10. No employer records, his mother faced a similar dilemma except for she attended Oxford University up until her murder by Sirius Black in 1981. His father? Only a birth and death certificate. In all honesty, this would provide a perfect opportunity for a secret project he had been thinking up, one to match and go blow to blow with Subject Zero, code-named Subject X. Exposure to eezo was the first step, and then building and manufacturing the perfect super soldier and contingency plan all wrapped into one was looking up. If he survived the first round of testing, that is. But for now, the Illusive Man would play dumb.

All this ran through the Illusive Man's brain in the 2 seconds it took for the new Subject X to react. 

"Who are you and where am I?"

The Illusive Man took a drag of his cigarette, "You're on the jungle planet Archos 5, in a secret testing facility that you crash-landed outside of," he took another slow and deliberate drag, "as for who I am, you may call me the Illusive Man. Who are you?"

The boy shook his head, "I don't know, I woke up in the forest outside of this facility. With no memories of anything before I got here, the only thing I remember comes in flashes of light and screams of pain."

Nodding, the Illusive Man turned and walked back over to a chair, snuffing his almost empty cigarette on the armrest. Sitting down, he pressed a button on his right armrest, and there was a beep in the room and the door slid open. A tall woman walked in, her dark hair framed her perfect face and her blue eyes shone brightly, and her tight white and black bodysuit exhibited her curves, she couldn't have been older than 21. She walked into the room standing tall, and folding her hands behind her back in a professional manner.

"Operative Lawson reporting for duty, sir."

The Illusive Man nodded and glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes, "Operative Lawson, I'm now placing you in charge of Subject X and therefore in charge of the Thanatos Facility."

After saying his piece, the restraints released him and the holographic image vanished. Leaving X alone in the room with Operative Lawson. Relaxing slightly now that he wasn't restrained he slowly sat up, keeping one eye on the stoic Operative Lawson at all times. She strode up to him, without warning, and handcuffed him, bringing him out the room. Ignoring his vocal complaints the whole way down, she threw him in an empty room at the bottom of the facility. As he was tossed in he felt the atmosphere get heavier, almost being harder to breathe. 

Without a hint of emotion, she looked at him, "Subject X, this is your room. You will return here each night at 19:00 and then bunk down for sleep at 20:30 after training and eating and getting 8 hours of sleep. Any more or any less will require punishment."

* * *

That was how Subject X's life went, he woke up at 4:30, trained, had breakfast, was forcibly made to absorb Element Zero or eezo for hours, had lunch, trained more, had supper, and then went to bed. That was how his life went, day in and day out. If he was lucky he got to be deployed on a mission to prove his effectiveness to the Illusive Man. X was getting bored, as well as becoming traumatized by all the abuse he was suffering. Miranda Lawson transferred off the project when he was 17 for an unknown reason, her replacement lasted two days before X was ordered to kill him. The next one lasted 6 hours before he tried to kill X himself, so he was taken care of with brutal efficiency. The third one managed to last the rest of his time there.

Eventually news got to the Thanatos Facility that Subject Zero had escaped the Teltin Facility, and was now considered a loose cannon. His purpose was coming close, and he felt nothing but dread. So he did the only reasonable thing, he destroyed the facility and piloted a ship off as the building went up in a massive explosion. He was now on the run, but had no where to go. Eventually he got into contact with the Shadow Broker on accident. He offered to make a new life for him, from scratch. So the newly christened Xavier 'X' Lennox applied in the Alliance at 18. was made Lieutenant by his 21st birthday. He then requested to be assigned to the SSV Normandy SR-1 after learning about the experimental ship shortly after turning 23. If only he knew then what his life would be in for now.


	2. Mystery of Nihlus Kryik

A man stood looking out a window, running a hand through his blonde hair, his grey eyes staring out onto the horizon of the planet Earth. The place he was born, he was raised on the streets. His name was Commander David Shepard. He stood at an even 6 feet, with broad shoulders, and dressed in dark armor, N7 proudly emblazoned on the right pectoral. Someone had recently boarded the ship he served as XO, the SSV Normandy SR-1, a dark-plated turian by the name of Nihlus Kryik. Something was off about him, and Shepard knew it. His thoughts ran amok in his head as he glanced out on the beautiful sight of his home planet. Suddenly the ship blasted off, heading towards the Arcturus Prime relay, and Shepard saw his home depart from his view once more.

A voice came on over the loudspeaker as Shepard strode through the ship towards the cockpit, "The Arcturus Prime relay is in range. Initiating transmission sequence. We are connected. Calculating transit mass and destination. Relay is hot acquiring approach vector. All stations secure for transit," Shepard finally arrived at the cockpit, seeing his friend and the pilot of the ship Jeff 'Joker' Moreau, who turned and grinned at him upon his arrival, "and the board is green. Approach run has begun. Hitting the relay in... 3... 2... 1..."

Shepard felt the shock that came with the Normandy's traverse through the mass relay, but didn't react, no one did. They'd been through one numerous times. Nihlus stood next to him behind Joker, nodding and looking around. Seemingly pleased with something.

"Thrusters? Check. Navigation? Check. Internal emissions sink engaged. All systems online. Drift? Just under 1500 K." Joker read off the monitor in front of him.

Nihlus nodded again, "1500 K is good. Your captain will be pleased."

He then promptly strode out, nearly bumping into one of the ground team members walking in.

"I hate that guy..." Joker muttered.

"Nihlus gave you a compliment... so you hate him?" Kaidan asked incredulously, from the seat next to him. Kaidan Alenko was a Staff Lieutenant in the Alliance, and the ground teams Sentinel.

"You remember to zip up your jumpsuit on the way out of the bathroom? That's good. I just jumped us halfway across the galaxy and hit a target the size of a pinhead. So that's incredible!" Joker looked over at Kaidan, "Besides, Spectres are trouble. I don't like having him on board. Call me paranoid."

A voice sounded from behind Shepard, "You're paranoid, Joker." 

Shepard turned around to see Lieutenant Xavier 'X' Lennox, the ground teams sniper. He was smirking and leaning against the doorway of the cockpit, but upon being noticed walked over and stood next to Shepard.

"X is right. The council helped fund this project. They have a right to send someone to keep an eye on their investment." Kaidan pointed out.

Joker shook his head, "Yeah, right. That is the official story. But only an idiot believed the official story."

"They don't send Spectres on shakedown runs." Shepard said.

"So there's more here than the captain is letting on." Joker looked over towards Kaidan with a grin.

The room was quiet for a few moments as everyone in there took in the validity of the statement. X in particular looked deep in thought, adjusting his glasses with his other hand on his chin. The glasses were one of his eccentricities, because according to the ships medic, Doctor Chakwas, he had perfect vision, hence his nature as a sniper. He refused to part with them, wearing them when he wasn't in combat and putting them in a worn, neat, little case and tucking them away in his room before they went on missions. X had plenty of eccentricities, from his glasses, to his lightning bolt scar, to his slightly aggressive nature, to his perfect 8 hour sleep schedule without fail, and to his lack of food consumption. Most of his file was classified after he turned 15 and up until he joined up with the Alliance at 18.

He was a competent tactician, an excellent leader, a powerful biotic, and a downright exceptional sniper. Something about him always seemed off though, he never wanted the spotlight, which Shepard himself could relate with, he was also very down to earth but could execute people with a ruthless detachment that was actually kind of frightening. As these thoughts were running through his head, the speaker in front of Joker came to life, the commanding officer and captain of the vessels private channel.

"Joker! Status report."

"Just cleared the mass relay, Captain. Stealth systems engaged. Everything looks solid."

Good. Find a comm buoy and link us with the network. I want mission reports relayed back in Alliance brass before we reach Eden Prime." Anderson ordered.

"Aye, aye, Captain. Better brace yourself, sir. I think Nihlus is headed your way."

"He's already here, Lieutenant." Joker winced at that, "Tell Commander Shepard to meet me in the comm room for a debriefing."

After Anderson signed off, Joker looked over his shoulder, "You get that, Commander?"

Nodding, Shepard responded, confused, "He sounds angry. Something must've gone wrong with the mission."

X snorted, "That's just what he always sounds like talking with Joker, Commander." 

"Hey!" Joker indignantly cried, "I mean, you're right, but hey!"

Shepard shook his head, a small smile on his face, before walking off. Striding through the hallways on his way towards the comm room. Passing by the galactic map and walking past Doctor Chakwas and Corporal Jenkins, they seemed to be talking.

"I grew up on Eden Prime, Doc. It's just not the kind of place Spectres visit. There's something Nihlus ain't telling us about this mission." Jenkins said, leaning against the wall.

Chakwas scoffed, "That's crazy. The captain's in charge here. He wouldn't take orders from a Spectre."

"Not his choice, Doc. Spectres don't answer to anyone, they can do whatever they want. Kill anyone who gets in their way."

"Ha! You watch too many spy vids, Jenkins." Chakwas responded.

Upon noticing his presence, Jenkins stiffened up, giving the Commander a salute, "What do you think, Commander? We won't be staying on Eden Prime too long will we? I'm itching for some real action!"

Looking at him in disbelief, Chakwas responded, "I sincerely hope you're kidding, Corporal. Your 'real action' usually ends with me patching up crew members in the infirmary."

"You need to calm down, Corporal. A good soldier stays cool, even under fire." Shepard inputs.

Jenkins sheepishly rubbed the back of neck, "Sorry, Commander. But this waiting's killing me. I've never been on a mission like this before. Not one with a Spectre on board!"

Shepard smiled and shook his head, "Just treat this like every other assignment you've had and everything will work out."

"Easy for you to say. You proved yourself on Akuze, everybody already knows what you can do," he got a fiery look in his eyes, "this is my big chance. I need to show the brass what I can do."

"You're young, Corporal. You've got a long career ahead of you. Don't do something stupid to mess it up."

"Don't worry, sir. I'm not going to screw this up." Jenkins said, waving his hands frantically in front of him.

"The captain's waiting for me." Shepard said, bidding them both goodbye.

Turning around and walking towards the comm rooms, more thoughts filled his head. It seemed like no one, save for a few, really bought the shakedown run story. The vast majority of the crew that he had heard speaking really thought something else was going on.

He was inclined to agree, after all it was slightly fishy. Why here and why now? Shepard shook his head of the thoughts as he approached. The door automatically opened, showing just Nihlus standing in front of a monitor. Sighing, he walked down the catwalk towards the big platform the made up the comm room. The walk couldn't have been more than 15 feet but it felt like miles. Hearing his approach, Nihlus turned around, his mandibles twitching.

Stepping forward, he put his hands behind his back, "Commander Shepard. I was hoping you would get here first. It will give us a chance to... talk."

Immediately he was on edge, something was off, "The captain said he'd meet me here."

He waved his hand dismissively, "He's on his way." Nihlus began pacing back and forth in front of him, "I'm interested in this world we're going to, Eden Prime. I've heard it's quite beautiful."

Raising an eyebrow, Shepard responded, "They say it's a paradise."

"Yes... a paradise. Serene. Tranquil. Safe. Eden Prime has become something of a symbol for your people, hasn't it?" He stopped pacing, crossing his arms over his chest and turning around, "Proof that humanity can not only establish colonies across the galaxies, but also protect them. But how safe is it, really?"

More on edge, Shepard put his hands behind his back, resting one on his sidearm, "Do you know something?"

Turning back around, "Your people are still newcomers, Shepard. The galaxy can be a very dangerous place. Is the Alliance truly ready for this?"

Footsteps followed by a deep baritone signaled Captain Anderson's arrival, "I think it's about time we told the commander what's really going on."

Crossing his arms again, Nihlus nodded, "This mission is far more than a simple shakedown run."

"I figured there was something you weren't telling us." Shepard said while crossing his arms, too.

Anderson shrugged, "We're making a covert pick-up on Eden Prime. That's why we needed the stealth systems operational."

"There must be a reason you didn't tell me about this, sir."

"This comes down from the top, Commander. Information strictly on a need-to-know basis." Captain Anderson walked towards the railing of the platform, turning and leaning against it, "A research team on Eden Prime unearthed some kind of beacon during an excavation. It was Prothean."

Shepard was shocked, "I thought the Protheans vanished 50,000 years ago."

Rolling his eyes, Nihlus spoke up, "Their legacy still remains. The mass relays, the Citadel, our ship drives. It's all based on Prothean technology."

"This is big Shepard. The last time humanity made a discovery like this, it jumped our technology forward 200 years." He stood up and walked towards him again, "But Eden Prime doesn't have the facilities to handle something like this. We need to bring this back to the Citadel for proper study."

"Obviously, this goes beyond mere human interests, Commander. This discovery could affect every species in Council space."

"Why didn't we keep the beacon for ourselves." He asked glancing at Anderson out of the corner of his eyes.

"You humans don't have the best reputation. Some species see you as selfish. Too unpredictable. Too independent. Even dangerous."

Anderson nodded, "Sharing that beacon will improve relations with the Citadel. Plus, we need their scientific expertise. They know more about the Protheans than we do."

Stepping forward next to Anderson, Nihlus looked deep into his eyes, "The beacon is not the only reason I'm here, Shepard."

"Nihlus wants to see you in action, Commander. He's here to evaluate you."

Shepard grinned slightly, looking Nihlus dead in the eye, "Guess that explains why I bump into him every time I turn around."

"The Alliance has been pushing for this for a long time. Humanity wants a larger role in shaping interstellar policy. We want more say with the Citadel Council. The Spectres represent the Council's power and authority. If they accept a human into their ranks, it shows how far the Alliance has come." Anderson said.

Nihlus, still staring, continued on, "Not many could've survived what you went through on Akuze. You showed a remarkable will to live, a particularly useful talent. That's why I put your name forward as a candidate for the Spectres."

Breaking eye contact for a second, Shepard looked at Anderson, "I assume this is good for the Alliance?"

"Earth needs this Shepard, we're counting on you." Anderson replied.

"I need to see your skills for myself, Commander. Eden Prime will be the first of several missions together."

Anderson pointed to Shepard, "You'll be in charge of the ground team. Secure the beacon and get it onto the ship ASAP. Nihlus will accompany you to observe the mission."

Shepard sat there and thought for but a second, that's all it took. Did he want this responsibility? Was he even actually qualified? Those thoughts and more rushed through his head as he pondered the situation, on one hand it would be very beneficial for the Alliance to finally get a Spectre in the corps. On the other hand he would have the weight of the galaxy on his shoulders as one of the best of the best. Even with that, the decision was easy. He looked up and made eye contact with Anderson. His grey eyes steely with determination.

"Just give the word, Captain."

Anderson smiled, "We should be getting close to Ede-"

Joker's voice suddenly rang though the loudspeakers, "Captain! We've got a problem."

Stiffening slightly, he looked at the monitors in the room, "What's wrong, Joker?"

"Transmission from Eden Prime, sir. You better see this!" Joker's voice was very panicked and erratic sounding.

"Bring it up on screen."

On the monitor of the comm rooms, bright lights flashed across the screen. Gunfire. The sounds gave it away, too. A small squadron of Alliance soldiers were fighting something off. A woman wearing white and pink armor ran towards the person with helmet recording the incident.

"Get down!" she demanded as she pushed him behind cover.

Standing up she shot bursts at whatever it was attacking the settlement. A series of explosions rang out, knocking the camera around. Filling it with static. When the screen cleared up enough, an officer was yelling at the camera, requesting reinforcements. Suddenly a metallic creaking sound was released from the video and blasters dropped the officer and a few soldiers, dead. The survivors looked upon whatever happened in shock. More explosions shaking the battlefield, and jostling the camera until with a scream, the footage cut out.

Shepard was deaf to the conversation between Anderson and Joker that happened after the video stopped. His heart was pumping, body rushing with adrenaline. Suddenly the screen pinpointed a specific timestamp, and what looked like the hand of a malevolent metal god reached out towards the planet of Eden Prime. Purple electricity sparking off of it.

"Take us in Joker, fast and quiet. This mission just got a lot more complicated." Anderson said, knocking Shepard out of his haze.

Nihlus spoke up, being silent the whole time, "A small strike team can move quickly without drawing attention. It's out best chance to secure the beacon."

"Grab your gear and meet us in the cargo hold," Anderson ordered Nihlus, "Tell Alenko, Lennox, and Jenkins to suit up, Commander. You're going in."

Shepard nodded, taking one last look at the hand of the colossal metal deity. Before turning and walking out of the room. The image now burned into his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the dialogue heavy chapter, there will probably be a few of these considering it's a dialogue heavy game.


	3. Eden Prime

Space warped around them as they went full speed ahead towards Eden Prime. It was a beautiful world, not as beautiful as Earth, but significantly more beautiful than Archos 5. X looked out the window as he sat in the drop-bay, waiting for everyone else to get there. Granted he had only been serving aboard the Normandy for about a month and half by this point, his life was very different then from when he first woke up outside of the Thanatos Facility eight years prior. 

Kaidan Alenko walked into the room, at 6 feet he had a lean build, with dark hair and hazel eyes. His chiseled jaw lined with a thing layer of stubble. According to his file, what little X read of each of the members of the Normandy, Staff Lieutenant Alenko was a talented biotic and one of the few remaining users of the L2 implant. He was an Alliance Sentinel, which means he combined the use of gadgets and biotics.

Shortly following behind Kaidan was Corporal Richard Jenkins. He was about 5'11" with short cropped red hair and blue eyes, he had more of stocky build when compared to Kaidan and X. Good kid, if a bit naive. His file didn't say much about him, boring life mostly, just wanted the action that came from being in the Alliance. From Eden Prime though, which would make this mission a bit personal for him. Young too, just turned 20 last week if X remembered correctly. He was classified as an Infiltrator, despite not doing much infiltration. Very tech savvy and very good with an assault rifle. 

Jokers voice said something over the loudspeaker as Commander David Shepard walked in, followed by the turian, and Captain David Anderson. The ship swooped down over the horizon of the planet when the three men walked in. X, Alenko, and Jenkins shot up saluting the three higher ranking officials as they entered the room. 

"At ease, gentlemen." Anderson said.

The three of them relaxed, Jenkins and Alenko continuing to put their armor on. He sat back down on the bench, waiting for the debrief and deployment. As the other two finished getting ready the took positions behind Commander Shepard. Anderson looked around the room at the four of them and nodded, seemingly pleased with something, before he put his hands behind his back and straightened up to his whole 6'2" stature.

"Your teams the muscle in this operation, Commander. Go in heavy and head straight for the dig site." Anderson said, straight to the point.

"What about survivors, Captain?" Alenko asked.

"Unfortunately, helping survivors is a secondary objective. The beacon's your top priority." He said over the roar of the wind as the hangar doors opened up.

"Approaching drop point one." Joker said.

Nihlus came striding towards the hangar door, loading his gun and checking it out on the way.

Jenkins looked at him quizzically "Nihlus, you're comin' with us?"

The turian shook his head, "I move faster on my own." He then took off towards the doors and took a dive right out.

"Nihlus will scout out ahead. He'll feed you status reports throughout the mission; otherwise, I want radio silence." Anderson ordered.

Shepard nodded, "We've got his back, Captain."

"The mission's yours now, Shepard. Good luck."

At that, the ship slowed to a stop above the ground for a second time, "We are approaching drop point two."

X stood up and walked over towards Shepard and the other two, grinning he threw his arm around Shepard's shoulder.

"Let's go get this beacon, sir."

Nodding the four of them headed towards the door. Shepard donning his helmet and jumping out of the ship, landing in a roll and coming to his feet. Jenkins dropping down and doing the same. X and Kaidan followed soon after, letting their biotics float them down. Each of them drew their weapons, and started heading towards the massive metallic tower and gunshots. Nihlus' voice came over the comms.

"This place got hit hard, Commander. Hostiles everywhere. Keep your guard up."

Looking over towards a strange jellyfish-like creature Kaidan gasped, "What the hell are those?"

Jenkins chuckled, "Gas bags. Don't worry, they're harmless."

Trekking over the swampy ground they came across what looked like burnt corpses lying across rocks. Jenkins gasped and muttered something under his breath, but the four of them just kept going. Slowly turning corners, their adrenaline pumping. They rounded another corner and Shepard dropped into a crouch, raising his fist up. The three of them stopped behind him, their eyes scanning the horizon. X heard a whirring sound and squinted his eyes. Shepard motioned for them to move forward, Alenko heading to the right and Jenkins to the left, but X stayed still. Something was off. He could still hear the whirring. He looked up slightly, seeing two purple floating drones coming closer. Jenkins was heading right for them! He pulled out his pistol and fired two shots, one for each.

The first one dropped, but he aimed a little off on the second one, causing it to still be intact. Jenkins never rounded the corner, instead blind-firing around the edge of the cover and managing to strike the remaining drone which dropped down. Two more drones came flying out of the forest, but they were noticed immediately by Shepard and Alenko. Shepard firing his assault rifle at one and Alenko biotically pulling the other one down into the ground, smashing it. X looked around, not hearing any sounds of whirring and not seeing any signs of drones slowly lowered his pistol, holstering it on his side and redrawing his sniper rifle. 

"Good eye, Lennox. If you hadn't noticed those drones we would've been down a soldier." Shepard said approvingly.

X shook his head, "Just doing my job, sir. Anyone else would've done it, too."

"Noted. Still well done, Lieutenant."

They headed further on down the path towards the tower, and once again, X heard it. The whirring sound that signified oncoming drones. Each of them ducked behind cover, seeing three drones coming out of the forest yet again. He looked over the rock he was behind ready to snipe one of the ones at the far back, but the sound gunfire halted him in his tracks, the other three had already taken care of them. Nihlus' voice yet again came over the comms.

"I've got some burned out buildings here, Shepard. A lot of bodies." he stoically relayed, "I'm going to check it out. I'll try to catch up with you at the dig site."

Shepard nodded and the squad of four kept heading down the path towards the tower. Going through the forest they ducked behind cover and moved up as quickly and as stealthily as possible. The whirring returned, and X noticed a single drone. He ducked behind a tree and took a shot with his rifle, the shot blew a hole in the side of the drone and it careened to the side knocking into another hidden drone, which maybe due to a glitch in the programming, began firing shots. The blue light showing another drone hiding, which Shepard and Jenkins took out the two remaining drones with a steady burst.

They continued onward yet again. Until they heard the sounds of gunfire and saw a female soldier dressed in white and pink armor running in their direction. She was running from a pair of drones. A shot bounced off of her shields and she turned, sliding to the ground and unloaded two shots into each drone. The squad of four started off in her direction, guns at the ready, and that's when they saw it. Two geth, surrounding a human. He was held in their grasp, kicking, struggling to get out. One of the geth let out a deep metallic chirping sound. And a massive spike pierced through the chest of the man, rising him far above the ground. He struggled for a moment or two, but then stopped. Dead.

The woman took off towards them, and then the geth noticed her. Chirping, they started towards her. She ducked behind a rock, panting heavily and pulled out an assault rifle, breathing erratically. The two metal abominations started towards her more, their guns sweeping around, chirping.

"For fucks sake." X muttered under his breath.

He lined up a shot as the geth were getting closer to the woman, and fired. The bullet slammed into the single blinking light where the face should be, and the geth dropped down to the ground. The other three soldiers with him used that to jump into action, as four more geth came running into the area. The survivor of the original two chirped something out and the other four started toward the now five soldiers.

The woman looked up towards them, shocked, but grinned and turned towards the geth, lighting one up. Her bullets tore through its shields and then through the metal of the platform. Shepard ran forward and threw a grenade at a cluster of them, it exploded killing one and damaging another, which Jenkins took out with his pistol. Alenko dashed forward with a biotic charge, and blasted the remaining one with his shotgun.

The woman saluted towards Shepard, "Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the 212. You the one in charge here, sir?"

"Are you wounded, Williams?" He asked, ignoring her question.

Williams shook her head, "A few scrapes and burns. Nothing serious. The others weren't so lucky." Then a sort of panic began to set in on her, and she started slightly hyperventilating, "Oh man... We were patrolling the perimeter when the attack hit. We tried to get off a distress call, but they cut off our communications. I've been fighting for my life ever since."

"Where's the rest of your squad?" Shepard inquired.

"We tried to double back to the beacon. But we walked into an ambush. I don't think any of the others... I think I'm the only one left." She said as she lowered her head.

Shepard rested a hand on her shoulder, "This isn't your fault, Williams. You couldn't have done anything to save them."

"Yes, sir. We held our position as long as we could. Until the geth overwhelmed us."

Alenko looked confused, "The geth haven't been seen outside the Veil in nearly 200 years. Why are they here now?"

Williams shrugged, "They must've come for the beacon. The dig site is close. Just over that rise. It might still be there."

"We could use your help, Williams." Shepard said.

She snapped to another salute, "Aye, aye, sir." She then added under her breath, "It's time for payback."

Shepard and her talked for a few more moments about the Prothean beacon and the lead-up to the attack. X looked over at Jenkins, he had been oddly quiet. People were used to X being quiet, but not to Jenkins. His faced was hard, stony. He looked determined. Eventually he had to talk to the kid about the situation down here. But not now, now wasn't a great time.

Shepard took off, Williams and Alenko following behind him, Jenkins shortly after with X taking up the rear. The now group of five headed down into the trench, X was looking around. He had completely turned his safety off for this, his well trained perfect eyes scanning over the area. Loud metallic thumping alerted him to the presence of geth ahead. In a circular area there were three more geth, but no beacon. He aimed his rifle at one, and pulled the trigger.

The other four soldiers rushed forward gunfire raining towards the remaining two geth, who were destroyed in seconds. Walking towards the area they were guarding, the squad of five saw nothing. No beacon, and no sign of where it even could be.

"You gotta be kiddin' me..." Jenkins muttered.

Williams stared at the empty circular stone pedestal in anger, "This is the dig site. The beacon was right here! It must've been moved."

"By who? Our side, or the geth?" Asked Alenko.

"Hard to say," sighed Williams, "maybe we'll know more after we check out the research camp."

Shepard looked around. "You think anyone got out of here alive?"

"If they were lucky. Maybe hiding up in the camp." She pointed behind her, "It's just on the top of this ridge. Up the ramps."

Shepard nodded and they started in that direction, Nihlus' voice once again came over the comm lines.

"Change of plans, Shepard. There's a small spaceport up ahead. I want to check it out, I'll wait for you there."

"Understood." Shepard responded.

The group of five then headed up the slope that lead to the camp. As they got closer, smoke rising from one of the buildings made itself known. And so did the same spikes that held up the man from earlier. X looked up and noticed that each of the corpses had rotting grey skin, decorated with odd glowing blue lines, and its eyes were wide open and glowing blue as well.

"Oh my god..." Jenkins said, noticing the corpses.

Williams nodded, "Looks like they hit the camp hard."

X piped up from behind the group, "It's a damn good place for an ambush. Keep your guards up."

The massive spikes twitched, and so did the corpses. They slowly descended to the ground, their bodies twitching the whole way down. Each corpse began slowly standing up, their chests sparking with energy. Turning to them they charged.

"Oh, god! They're still alive!" Alenko exclaimed.

"What did the geth do to them?" Ashley sounded horrified.

Not waiting for anything, X rushed forward, drawing his pistol he unload three shots into each of these... husks of humans. As the bullets slammed into them, they brushed it off like a mild inconvenience. Putrid green blood blasting from the wound, and sizzling when it hit the ground. One of them got close to him and tried to bite him, panicking he threw down a small singularity, and the three husks got dragged into it. Shepard then seamlessly fired at the husks until they stopped moving.

He looked over at X, ready to say something, but noticed something in the distance and headed towards it. Bringing Alenko and Williams with him. He was gone for five minutes, five long minutes as the two soldiers sat there waiting for him to return. Eventually the three of them came out of the small building towards the corner of the camp, and Shepard beckoned the two of them over as they headed towards the next destination. But something felt off. The air was heavy. Suddenly a lone gunshot rang out from the direction they were heading. 

X flinched, Nihlus was just killed. He could feel it somewhere in his soul. His head hurt, but he couldn't think about it, there was still the mission. As they rounded the corner, his headache started getting worse and worse. When their eyes locked onto the massive spaceship ascending above the surface of Eden Prime and heading back towards the depths of space, that's when it was at an all time high. Then, just as the ship cleared the atmosphere, it was gone. But there was no clarity with the disappearance of the ship. A geth sniper round shot him in the shoulder as he was standing there watching the ship ascend. Down he went.

All he saw was black from that point on.


	4. The Citadel

His body suddenly felt very alert, everything was hypersensitive. He could smell the antiseptic of the Normandy's med bay, the fruity perfume that Chakwas sprayed on herself after performing surgery, the ferric scent of his own blood. He felt the roughness of the bed over his entire body, implying he was naked, and heard the groaning of another voice, presumably Shepard from the sound of it. He opened his eyes, the brightness of the room causing him to hiss in pain and squint.

Footsteps rapidly approached him, and he noticed Chakwas was standing over him, an omni-tool scanning his body. Her eyes widened and then narrowed before she started typing something down on the miniature computer. She pulled a chair over next to the bed and sat down. Her eyes were still narrowed and she was scanning through a wall of text.

"Good morning, Mr. Lennox. I am surprised you are alive if I'm being quite honest with you." Chakwas said, looking up from her omni-tool, "If you don't mind, I have a few questions I would like to ask you?"

"I don't mind," his normally rich voice was scratchy, so he cleared his throat, "what would you like to know?"

"Date of birth?"

"Uh... October 13th 2160." 

"Name of your parents?"

He shrugged, "Never met 'em."

"Okay, now onto the actual questions of this examination," she reached her arm without the omni-tool on it forward and pressed at his shoulder, "are you feeling any pain or discomfort?"

He shook his head.

"Okay, grand," moving her hand down slightly to right above his pectoral she pressed again, "how about now?"

Again there was no pain, so he shook his head.

Nodding she typed some more stuff down on her omni-tool, "Now, here's the final question. Did you experience anything out of the ordinary while you were under?"

"What? No, I didn't. Why do you ask, Doc?" 

"Because you were clinically dead for about 57 and a half minutes. Your heart stopped pumping blood, your brain activity dropped to zero, and you were not breathing. That was true until you woke up earlier." Anderson said, stepping into the med bay. 

"Sir?" 

"Lieutenant Lennox, during your mission on Eden Prime you were shot in the shoulder by a geth sniper, and the ground team called for evacuation shortly thereafter. They had found the item of interest, a Prothean Beacon, but Commander Shepard, being the fool he is, touched the Beacon and is now unconscious. Although according to Doctor Chakwas he is experiencing REM. Once he wakes up, we're heading to the Citadel to speak with the council." Anderson informed.

X looked down at his hands, before shaking his head and stared into the eyes of Anderson. He nodded, and slowly began to get up from his position on the bed. His legs were not responding to him, they weren't moving. He started panicking, did this mean he was paralyzed? That he couldn’t do any field work anymore? He didn’t want to be useless, ever since he woke up outside of the Thanatos Facility he’s been active. He’s had a routine. 

He slowly pushed himself up off of the bed, ignoring the screaming pain from his legs. After he stood up, he slightly stumbled and Chakwas went to assist him. But he corrected himself and began pushing onwards towards the door. Not before grabbing his clothes, though.

“Lieutenant where are you going? You have not been cleared for duty.” Anderson said as he limped past him. 

“Sir, with all due respect, I’ll be fine. So I’m heading to my quarters.” 

Not even waiting for a response he continued limping down the halls of the Normandy, towards the crew quarters. Glancing around, a lot of the crew was quiet, and not the professional quiet. They were all somber, looking at X as he passed them by. Jenkins and Kaidan were conversing as he walked past them, noticing the woman from Eden Prime. He couldn’t remember her name. Wilson? Williams? Something like that.

Jenkins stopped him before he could go any further.

“Hey, X! You’re alright.” he yelled after him.

X turned to glance at Jenkins. He looked haggard. There were deep bags under his eyes, his hair was kind of a mess. 

“Yeah, I’m fine Jenki-”

“Rick.”

“What?”

“You saved my life. You can call me Rick, you don’t have to be so formal.” He said, awkwardly clearing his throat.

“Okay?” X was confused, “Alright then, Rick. How are you holding up? I don’t know much more of what happened down on Eden Prime. Due to being… incapacitated.”

He noticed Rick tense up at the question, also out of the corner of his eye, the anxiously pacing Williams stopped pacing and marched towards the med bay. Looking back at Rick, he seemed somber. 

“It’s not easy, knowing the place I grew up. The place advertised as one of the safest human colonies in the galaxy was so easily attacked.” Rick’s mouth set into a hard line, “There is one thing I know for sure, I’m not normally a violent person, but if I ever meet the person who orchestrated the attack. I will make him beg for death for what he did to those innocent people.”

X held his hand out, “I’m with you on that one.”

Rick grasped his hand, and the two of them shook on it. Kaidan looked anxiously between both X and Rick, his eyes wide.

“I don’t want to interrupt this lovely, if slightly terrifying, start of a friendship. But Williams and Chakwas just left the med bay. Shepard might actually be awake now.” Kaidan pointed out.

The three of them all watched as Chakwas and Williams left the med bay, Chakwas stepping off to the side keeping her eye both on the door and on him in case she needed to act fast. Williams on the other hand went straight for the mess, leaning against the wall and anxiously tapping her foot.

Everyone stood with bated breath, waiting for both of them to leave the room. Eventually after about 15 or so minutes, the two of them exited the med bay. Williams stood up straight, her whole demeanor now calm.

Shepard glanced around the room, and upon noticing Williams marched right over to her. The two of them had a short conversation. He shot over to Chakwas, having a quick conversation with her as well. Before walking over towards the three of them, Rick and Kaidan both shot up to attention, snapping into a salute.

“Glad to see you’re okay, Commander.” Kaidan and Rick said, in sync.

“At ease, you two. Lennox, I wanted to make sure you were okay. How are you feeling?”

X smirked ever so slightly, “Nothing a couple of days of rest won’t fix, Shepard,” his smirk disappeared, “I actually wanted to apologize, Commander. I let my guard down, it was a rookie mistake. Rest assured nothing like that will be happening again. You can count on it.”

“Glad to hear it, Lieutenant.” he said with a nod, before walking off. Stopping about 5 feet from the trio, he turned his head back towards X, “But don’t worry about getting shot. The good thing is, you got better.”

Smiling at the commander, he nodded, and Shepard nodded back, and then walked away. The three of them then sat in silence. There wasn’t much to say, everyone, minus Nihlus, had made it back from the mission alive. The ship swung around and hit a mass relay sending a shock throughout the entire ship. X nodded towards Rick and Kaidan, and started walking towards the cockpit of the Normandy. He heard footsteps behind him, and saw that the two of them were following him, along with Williams.

The four of them joined Shepard and Joker in the cockpit, and he saw it. The Citadel. A multi-pronged space station floating in the middle of the nebula. Five prongs total, each of them glowing with multiple lights. It was a sight to behold indeed.

Williams gasped, running towards the window, “Look at the size of that ship!”

Outside of the Citadel, getting ready to dock was a massive asari dreadnought, shaped vaguely like a star, with a large cubic piece jutting off the front of it. 

“The Ascension. Flagship of the Citadel fleet.” Kaidan supplied.

“Well, size isn’t everything.” Joker remarked, keeping his eyes on the Citadel.

“Why so touchy, Joker?” Williams asked with a smirk.

“I’m just saying, you need firepower, too.” He shrugged.

She shot an incredulous look back at him, “Look at that monster! It’s main gun could rip through the barriers on any ship in the Alliance fleet.”

“Good thing it’s on our side, then.” Kaidan said.

Joker pushed a button on the control panel, “Citadel Control, this is SSV Normandy requesting permission to land.”

A staticky voice responded, “Stand by for clearance, Normandy.” After a few seconds of delay the line came back on, “Clearance granted. You may begin your approach. Transferring you to an Alliance operator.”

Shepard stepped forward as Joker responded, “Roger, Alliance Tower. Normandy out.”

“Normandy, this is Alliance Tower. Please proceed to dock 422.”

The ship slowly entered the dock, coming to a full stop. Latches came out of the walls and attached to the ship, causing it to slightly buck from the impact. The group in the cockpit, minus Joker and plus Anderson left the ship and stepped onto the space station.

* * *

_37 minutes later…_

“This is an outrage!” A weaselly looking human man said, “The Council would step in if the geth attacked a turian colony!”

Three holographic figures stood in front of him. They were all well dressed, but each of a different race. One turian, one asari, and one salarian. The salarian one crossed his arms over his chest.

“The turians don’t found colonies on the borders of the Terminus Systems, Ambassador.” he said, looking thoroughly unamused.

The asari shrugged, “Humanity was well aware of the risks when you went into the Traverse.”

This seemed to just infuriate the human even further.

“What about Saren? You can’t just ignore a rogue Spectre. I demand action!”

“You don’t get to make demands of the Council, Ambassador.” The turian speaking for the first time, looked livid. He spat the word Ambassador out with such venom.

“Citadel Security is investigating your charges against Saren. We will discuss the C-Sec findings at the hearing. Not before.” The asari intervened.

With that final word the Council’s holograms disappeared. Leaving the Ambassador, a man named Udina, fuming. He slowly but surely managed to get a hold on his emotions and calmly walked over towards the group of soldiers.

“Captain Anderson. I see you brought half of your crew with you.” He said, beckoning to the five soldiers standing on the balcony with the two of them.

To Anderson’s credit, he kept his composure quite well, “Just the ground team from Eden Prime. In case you had any questions.”

Williams and Kaidan shot each other a look from their positions leaning on the railing.

“I have the mission reports.” Udina spat out, “I assume they’re accurate?”

“They are. Sounds like you convinced the Council to give us an audience.”

He crossed his arms, “They were not happy about it. Saren’s their top agent. They don’t like him being accused of treason.”

Shepard, who was standing dutifully behind Anderson the whole time, sought this moment to intervene. 

“Saren is a threat to every human colony out there. He needs to be stopped. The Council has to listen to us!”

“Settle down, Commander. You’ve already done more than enough to jeopardize your candidacy for the Spectres.” Udina said with a glare, “The mission on Eden Prime was a chance to prove you could get the job done. Instead, Nihlus ended up dead and the beacon was destroyed!” 

They were arguing in circles. He glanced over at Rick, who looked upset. The Council wasn’t actually doing anything to help his home planet. It’s almost like they didn’t care about the fate of humanity. Which struck X as a little odd, because while he may not always like other people regardless of race, he still understood that life had meaning. 

The only time that someone lost that right to live was when they had done deplorable things, because they corrupt their soul with bad actions. Intentions were also important. It was a slippery slope to slide into, if he was being completely honest.

As he was lost in his thoughts, he then noticed Anderson and Udina leave the Ambassadors office.

“What a tool.” He muttered.


End file.
